405 replies to this topic

[DoctorShumway]

Perhaps a Labatt's clone.

Good luck cloning a lager beer without lagering equipment and a lot of time.

Ah good call. I hadn't really read the receipe fully and I just noticed the temperature issues. Given that I'm going to have a pretty tight window, I should probably go with something else that I know will ferment in time.

Back to the research.

[mikemfer]

I have decreed that all of my homebrew must be finished before I move on the 27th or so....hey Phoenicians, any of you guys interested in a bottle or two of Anchorsteam and/or Newcastle clones? I can send a few with Colin and Steph

Are you seriously ASKING?

Hell yeah! I'm interested!

[mikemfer]

Lagering shouldn't be too difficult if you can find a spot that is in the right temperature range...you may be lucky and have a closet or door-to-the-porch or something that hangs around that temperature. That's what my friend uses, the back stairwell in his house.

Let me modify that for Phoenix:

Frying eggs shouldn't be too difficult if you can find a spot that is in the right temperature range...you may be lucky and have a road in front of your house or something that hangs around that temperature. That's what my friend uses, the shingles on the roof to his house.

[DoctorShumway]

Yeah I think the wild temp changes would probably do unpleasant things to the yeast.

Last night my wife said to me that she wanted to get a new fridge when we move into our new house because the freezer that's there now is way too small. So I jokingly said, "Let's just buy a new fridge. Then I could move the old one down to the basement and brew lagers. Maybe even skip bottles and start using kegs." Her response: "That's a really good idea."

Compromise works.

[mikemfer]

Sweet! My lady would definitely go for a keggerator, that's why I'm marrying her

[Shervz0r]

Dammit, I'm moving soon and I'll have an extra microwave. Any technological geniuses out there who can turn it into a fridge?

[mikemfer]

Dammit, I'm moving soon and I'll have an extra microwave. Any technological geniuses out there who can turn it into a fridge?

Sure, just put it in a fridge, and then whatever you put in it will be refigerated.

[DoctorShumway]

Alright, I'm going to throw out my plan for this weekend's brew:

I'm going use the following basic hefeweizen recipe as a framework: 7# wheat malt extract, 1 1/2 oz Liberty (3.8%), 1/2 oz Liberty, then fermented with American Hefeweizen yeast. I thought that some people here have brewed a hefe before, so I wanted to put this out there to see if there's any suggestions. Specifically, I'm wondering about any steeping grains that might have been used. It seems a little weird to me that none are included in this recipe.

Pulling from a recipe I found online, I'm going to add in cinnamon, orange peel and lemon peel during the boiling to hopefully get a summer taste to this thing.

[woodman]

I'll check my recipe when I get home, but it sounds like you're on the right track - just ask the brew guy at the store for recommendations; unless he's drunk he can probably help you out.

[mikemfer]

I concur with John.

We used plain old malt extract, and we steeped wheat in the brew to give it that cloudy appearance that Hefes have.

I think the orange and lemon will be good, but don't overdo it- if anything add fresh orange or lemon wedges when serving. Also, I'm not sure about the cinnamon. That might be too much. The tendency when you're starting to brew is to want to se all kinds of exotic ingredients, but starting basic gives you a better understanding of how things work. That will also allow you to more easily troubleshoot anything that isn't quite right.

[mikemfer]

I concur with Matt about being on the right track. You don't want to use hops that are too strong so you're on the right track with 3.8% hops. You might want to steep some cracked wheat malt grains in order to get a really good wheat thing going. That said, I don't think we ever used "wheat malt extract", I think we used normal pale malt extract and steeped a couple pounds of wheat grains. It's been a while, but I think that's what we did.

Also, I have an IPA the needs to get its ass in bottles this weekend if I can find the time.

I potentially want to take a few bottles of that IPA up to Vancouver for John Wright, I mean I did help brew it... I could bring some of his back! Not sure how that goes with the border and all.